A dwarf, FLINT, comes over the hillside and sits on a boulder. He is obviously tired.

FLINT
I should never have left.
(slaps both hands on his knees)
And I'll be damned if I'm ever leaving again!
(looks down to the town of Solace)
My house has been sitting empty. Roof probably leaked, ruined the furniture. Stupid quest. Silliest thing I ever did. After one hundred and forty-eight years, I ought to have learned!

VOICE
(off camera and behind Flint)
You'll never learn, dwarf. Not if you live to be two hundred and forty-eight!

Flint gets up and puts his hand on his axe handle which is on his belt. He spins around. We see a figure, TANIS, approaching him. TANIS is cloaked and a hood covers the top half of his face.

FLINT
(hesitantly)
Tanis?

Tanis smiles as he removes the hood.

TANIS
The same.

Tanis hugs Flint and Flint returns the hug for a moment, and then squirms and breaks away.

FLINT
(grumbling, trying to appear dignified)
Well, you've learned no manners in five years. Still no respect for my age or my station. Hoisting me around like a sack of potatoes.
(looks around)
I hope no one who knows us saw us.

TANIS
I doubt there are many who'd remember us. Time doesn't pass for you and me, old dwarf, as it does for humans. Five years is a long time for them, a few moments for us.
(smiles)
You haven't changed.

FLINT
The same can't be said of others.
(sits back down on the boulder. He looks at Tanis)
Why the beard? You were ugly enough.

Tanis scratches his chin.

TANIS
I have been in lands that were not friendly to those of elven blood. The beard --
(with bitter irony, his father is a touchy subject)
a gift from my human father -- did much to hide my heritage.

FLINT
I have been in lands that were not friendly to anyone of any kind of blood. But we're home now. All that's behind us.

Tanis brings the hood back over his head.

TANIS
Not from what I've heard. The Highseekers in Haven appointed a man named Hederick to govern as High Theocrat in Solace, and he's turned the town into a hotbed of fanaticism with his new religion.

Flint looks down to the town below.

FLINT
(quietly)
I've heard of no evil in Solace.

TANIS
(ominously)
Religious persecution... inquisitions...

FLINT
(unbelieving)
Inquisitions! That's only for those who defy the new High Theocrat, according to rumour. I don't believe in the Seeker gods -- never did -- but I don't parade my beliefs in the street. Keep quiet and they'll let you alone, that's my motto. The Highseekers in Haven are still wise and virtuous men. It's just this one rotten apple in Solace that's spoiling the whole barrel. By the way, did you find what you sought?

TANIS
Some sign of the ancient, true gods? Or peace of mind? I went seeking both. Which did you mean?

FLINT
(growling)
Well, I assume one would go with the other.
(beat)
Are we going to stand here all night, smelling the cooking fires? Or are we going to go into town and get some dinner?

TANIS
Go.

Tanis waves for Flint to follow him. Flint gets up and the two begin walking towards Solace.

FLINT
So you found nothing?

TANIS
Nothing. As we discovered long ago, the only clerics and priests in this world serve false gods. I heard tales of healing, but it was all trickery and magic. Fortunately, our friend Raistlin taught me what to watch --

FLINT
(interrupting with a huff)
Raistlin! That pasty-faced, skinny magician. He's more than half charlatan himself. Always sniveling and whining and poking his nose where it doesn't belong. If it weren't for his twin brother looking after him, someone would've put an end to his magic long ago.

TANIS
(with a small smile)
I think the young man was a better magician than you give him credit for. And, you must admit, he worked long and tirelessly to help those who were taken in by the fake clerics -- as I did.
(sighs)

FLINT
(muttering)
For which you got little thanks, no doubt.

TANIS
Very little. People want to believe in something -- even if, deep inside, they know it is false. But what of you? How was your journey to your homelands?

Flint walks for a few steps without answering.

FLINT
(muttering)
I should never have gone.

Tanis notices he has touched a nerve, but pushes forward.

TANIS
What of the dwarven clerics? The stories we heard?

FLINT
Not true. The clerics vanished three hundred years ago during the Cataclysm. So say the elders.

TANIS
Much like the elves.

FLINT
I saw --

Tanis interrupts with a hushing noise and holds out a hand in warning. They both stop walking.

FLINT
(whispering)
What?

TANIS
(motioning in the distance)
Over in that grove.

Flint peers into the trees, putting his hand on his axe handle.

FLINT
I don't see anything.

TANIS
I did.
(calling out to the grove)
Who goes there?

A whirring noise is heard. It starts out low and then grows higher and higher, becoming a high-pitched, screaming whine.

VOICE
(from the grove, spooky sounding but a natural voice)
Elven wanderer, turn from your course and leave the dwarf behind. We are the spirits of those poor souls Flint Fireforge left on the barroom floor. Did we die in combat? No! We died of shame, cursed by the ghost of the grape for not being able to outdrink a hill dwarf.

Flint is visibly angry while Tanis breaks out in laughter.

VOICE
(merry sounding now)
Damn the eyes of the elves! And damn the beards of the dwarves!

FLINT
(groaning)
Wouldn't you know it? Tasslehoff Burrfoot!

TAS leaps out of the trees and into the path with a big grin on his face. He is holding his hoopak staff which was making the whirring noise.

TAS
Flint!

Tas runs towards Flint and hugs him. Flint is embarrassed and reluctantly returns the embrace, and quickly steps back. Tas looks to Tanis.

TAS
Who's this? Tanis! I didn't recognize you with a beard!

Tas holds his arms out ready for a hug.

TANIS
(grinning)
No thanks. I want to keep my money pouch.

Flint pats under his tunic and notices something is missing.

FLINT
You rascal!

Flint playfully goes after Tas and Tas backs away. Tanis laughs and the group continues walking towards Solace.